A Notre Dame tutoring model will expand statewide, thanks to $10 million in federal funding.
The Indiana Department of Education announced Wednesday that the state was awarded an Education Innovation and Research grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The funding will help build off of the Tutor-ND program and expand the model to underserved parts of the state.
Indiana Department of Education Chief Strategy Officer Jacqueline Kronk said that the funding will add capacity. “Tutor-ND and Notre Dame will serve as the primary coordination hub, but from there, Notre Dame will recruit and support additional universities across the state to implement similar models in their own regions,” Kronk told the State Board of Education on Wednesday.
Tutor-ND began in the South Bend Community School Corporation in the 2021-2022 school year. Notre Dame Professor Nicole McNeil told WVPE in an email that tutors in the program include school-connected adults and community volunteers, who get structured training grounded in cognitive science. “Each learning design team also includes a small core group of Cognition Fellows, who are university students preparing for youth-serving careers such as teaching, pediatrics, or cognitive science,” McNeil added.
Since then, the district has seen a significant increase in its IREAD pass rate. Kronk believes that improvement is what led to Indiana’s selection for the federal funding.
"Helping children learn how to read is a universal good," Kronk added. "Again, it is the foundational piece that matters for our families, for our communities, to allow them to thrive."
Notre Dame and the Indiana Department of Education are also partnering with WestEd, which will measure the program’s impact and guide potential adjustments.
Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner believes the partnership will help engage community partners. “Notre Dame, in partnership with other higher ed institutions across Indiana, can help us train an army of people to help tutor and support our students,” Jenner said.
McNeil said about 39 percent of the grant funding is allocated to Notre Dame and its partner schools. Ten percent will go to the Indiana Department of Education, 36 percent to other universities and their partner schools and 15 percent to WestEd. McNeil said Notre Dame and the Indiana Department of Education are also contributing close to $1.7 million in cost share, through in-kind contributions like infrastructure and leadership time.
The University of Notre Dame is a financial supporter of WVPE.
